TFC, woeful in the league, can claim fourth straight Canadian title and advance to CONCACAF Champions League by beating Whitecaps.

Vancouver's Davide Chiumiento, left, and TFC's Julian de Guzman will be battling not only for victory on Wednesday at BMO Field, but also admission to next year's CONCACAF Champions League.

By:Daniel GirardSports Reporter, Published on Tue May 22 2012

No MLS team has started a season worse than the 2012 edition of Toronto FC.

But the holders of the Major League Soccer record for futility with nine straight losses — and counting — to open the campaign, have a shot Wednesday to salvage something from the wreck of the past two months.

The Reds host the Vancouver Whitecaps in the second leg of the final of the Canadian Championship, with the winner claiming the Voyageurs Cup. Of more significance to the locals than hoisting the trophy for the fourth straight time is that victory comes with passage to the CONCACAF Champions League.

A loss to the Whitecaps Wednesday would mean TFC is eliminated from all competitions but MLS, where the club is 0-9-0, mired in dead-last in the 19-team league and 13 points adrift of the last Eastern Conference playoff spot.

“To make something out of the season, we have to win tomorrow,” striker Danny Koevermans said Tuesday after TFC trained at BMO Field.

Koevermans, who called the Reds “the worst team in the world” following Saturday’s 3-1 loss at D.C. United, refused to soften those comments Tuesday, though several teammates and head coach Aron Winter disagreed.

“There’s not one (other) team in the world who lost nine times in a row,” Koevermans told reporters. “I don’t think what I was saying is not true.

“It is true when you look at the standings.”

The teams tied 1-1 in the opening leg in Vancouver last week.

Toronto will be buoyed by the return of captain Torsten Frings, who has missed the previous two games with a shoulder injury.

“We have a chance to win the Canadian Cup, be the best 0-9 team in Canada,” said defender Jeremy Hall. “We’re trying to bring a little joy to the fans who have stuck with us through these tough times.”

Hall, like everyone else connected with TFC, said he has “no idea” why the Reds have played well in the national championship and Champions League — in March becoming the first Canadian team to make the semifinals of the continental club competition — but cannot get a win, or even a tie, in MLS.

“I think it’s just the build-up of so many games not being able to win,” defender Adrian Cann said of the inability to get results in MLS despite going 2-1-4 in other competitions in 2012. “After five games not winning, six, seven, eight, nine and it just becomes a habit.

Goalkeeper Milos Kocic said while he disagrees with Koevermans’ assessment he also thinks the Reds need to “take more pride” in their game, from tracking defensively on set pieces to concentrating for 90 minutes.

“You can’t point a finger on anyone else,” Kocic said. “You have to do it yourself if you want to win the game. It’s as simple as that.

“You’ve got to be tougher, not let your teammates down.”

Winter, again saying he’s not worried about losing his job, chalked up Koevermans’ comments to his fellow Dutchman’s emotions after the loss to D.C. but also added “he has to be smarter to not say those things.”

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